I started my internship on June 15 at the Greenbelt Native Plant Center in Staten Island, NY.  The first couple of days were spent getting set up at the office, exploring the nursery and doing some work in the Seed Lab.  The next week began with three days in the field on the east end of Long Island.  We visited several different habitats and learned numerous native species.  All in all we hiked over 20 miles through dunes, high salt marsh, pitch pine lowlands, inland coastal mixed hardwood forests and freshwater wetlands.  Having lived on the east end of Long Island for the past 3 years, I am ashamed to say I had been to only 1 of the sites that we scouted.  In this part of the state where residential development continues at an unrelenting pace, the profound beauty and tranquility of these natural areas provides a stark contrast.  I am inspired to be doing work supporting the resiliency and protection of these precious resources.  I look forward to many more adventures and to starting our seed collections in the weeks to come.

Sarah, Mid-Atlantic Regional Seed Bank

High Salt Marsh, Hubbard County Park

Juncus gerardii

Eubotrys racemosa, still holding last seasons beautiful seed heads, common in the adjacent pine barrens

Hither Woods in Montauk, mixed hardwood coastal forest carpeted with Carex pensylvanica

Native thistle breakfast for a bumble bee

Walking Dunes Trail in Montauk with Quercus ilicifolia, Hudsonia tomentosa and Ammophila breviligulata

The “Wind Tunnel” with Napeague Harbor in the distance

Calopogon pulchellus, a rare orchid we were hoping to find in bloom in one of the bogs among the dunes

Otis Pike Preserve, Pinus rigida showing evidence of a prior burn

More Carex pensylvanica, I love the contrast of lush green and the scorched, denuded trees

Comptonia peregrina, rarely able to be collected, which we found in great numbers and loaded with fruit

Catalpa speciosa blossoms, I have never gotten to see this tree in bloom